Comments on: The Spice Must Flow

By: Hapax

Hapax — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 00:45:09 +0000

I’ve learned that the best way to let a restaurant know that you’re serious about your spice is to learn the word for “hot” in the relevant language. Even if you’re a pasty-looking white chick, if you say “spicy” in Thai, they’ll know you’re not just farting around.

By: Stewart Clamen

Stewart Clamen — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 23:48:48 +0000

It took a few orders from an Indian place near me (which seems to cater to the local South Asian community) to get them to make my English friend’s Chicken Vindaloo properly “hot”, despite our responding “very” to the “How spicy?” question. I think our saying “he’s English, he can handle it” was what got him ultimate satisfaction.

By: peterb

peterb — Wed, 21 Jul 2004 02:52:13 +0000

You can call me Mr. Cranky, but: the set of Chinese restaurants in Pittsburgh that don’t ask you “How spicy?” happens to be very close to the set of the best Chinese restaurants in town: Tasty, Orient Kitchen on Baum, and Rose Tea Cafe.

I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

By: Jonathan Hardwick

Jonathan Hardwick — Wed, 21 Jul 2004 00:19:44 +0000

When [ethnic] restaurant says “how spicy?” I smile and ask “[ethnic] scale or American scale?”. And then we both have a little laugh, and they say “ethnic!” and I say “uhhh, 3 then”, or they say “American!” and I say “10 of course”. And then we both know precisely where we stand.

But of course, I’m not like Mr Cranky here.